John Mercer Langston (R-VA)

John Mercer Langston (December 14, 1829 – November 15, 1897) was an American abolitionist, attorney, educator, and political activist. He was the first dean of the law school at Howard University and helped create the department. He was the first president of now Virginia State University. In 1888 he was the first Afri...can American elected to the U.S. Congress from Virginia and the only one for nearly a century.